Universal furniture foot construction



1960 R. J. GAMMACHE 2,954,636

UNIVERSAL FURNITURE FOOT CONSTRUCTION Filed April 16, 1958 Richard J.Gammache INVENTOR.

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United States Patent UNIVERSAL FURNITURE FOOT CONSTRUCTION Richard J.Gammache, 1564 Mission Road, Lancaster, Pa.

Filed Apr. 16, 1958, Ser. No. 728,887

1 Claim. (Cl. 45-137) This invention relates in general to new anduseful improvements in accessories for furniture, and more specificallyto an improved furniture foot construction.

In furniture construction, particularly chairs, the legs of suchfurniture are oftentimes disposed at an angle to the vertical. As aresult, when a foot member is driven into the end of the leg, the footmember does not present a horizontal surface for engagement with a floorand therefore not only is the chair partially unstable, but also resultsin a very small area of engagement between the foot and the floor orfloor covering so as to result in the damaging of the floor or floorcovering.

It is therefore the primary object of this invention to provide afurniture foot unit which is of such a nature that it is self-levellingso that when the furniture foot unit is mounted in a chair leg or thelike which is disposed at an angle to the vertical, a foot memberthereof will automatically adjust to the horizontal so as to form a fullcontacting surface with the floor or floor covering.

Another object of this invention is to provide a furniture foot unit,the furniture foot unit being of the selflevelling type and including afoot member having a flat floor engaging surface and a mounting memberadapted to be engaged with or in a furniture leg, and there beingprovided a universal connection between the mounting member and the footmember whereby when the furniture is set on a floor, the fioor engagingsurface of the foot member will automatically be disposed coplanar withthe floor surface to provide a full support for the furniture.

A further object of this invention is to provide an improved furniturefoot construction, the foot construction including a mounting memberadapted to be mounted in a furniture leg at an angle to the vertical andconcentric with the axis of the furniture leg, and a foot member, thefoot member having a flat floor engaging surface which is intended to bedisposed at an angle to the axis of the mounting member and coplanarwith the surface of the floor, the foot member being connected to thesupport member by means of a universal connection so as to beautomatically levelling, there being pro vided a covering for theuniversal connection, the cover being secured to the foot member andengaging the mounting member so as to both function as the desired coverand to prevent separation of the universal connection.

These together with other objects and advantages which will becomesubsequently apparent reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, whereinlike numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a chair leg having mounted on thelower end thereof a furniture foot unit in accordance with thisinvention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view takenthrough the foot unit and shows the specific details thereof includingthe manner in which it is mount- 2,954,636 Patented Oct. 4, 1960 edwithin the lower end of the chair leg, which chair leg is tubular;

Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially upon theplane indicated by the section line 3-3 of Figure 2 and shows furtherthe connection between the foot unit and the chair leg; and

Figure 4 is an enlarged vertical sectional view similar to Figure 2 andshows a slightly modified form of foot uni-t.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, it will be seen that there isillustrated in Figures 1, 2 and 3 a preferred form of furniture footunit, the foot unit beingreferred to in general by the reference numeral14 The foot unit 10 is mounted on the lower end of a chair leg, thechair leg 12 being of the tubular type.

The foot unit 10 includes a foot unit which is referred to in general bythe reference numeral 14. The foot unit 14 includes an annular portion16 which has a generally flat, but slightly rounded lower floor engagingsurface 18. The portion 16 includes an enlarged annular part 20 adjacentthe upper edge thereof. The foot member 14 also includes a centrallylocated upwardly projecting pin portion 22 which terminates in a roundedupper end part 24.

The foot unit also includes a mounting member which is referred to ingeneral by the reference numeral 26. The mounting member 26 includes anelongated shank 28 which terminates at the lower end thereof in anenlargement 30 which has formed integrally therewith a downwardly opengenerally semi-spherical cup member 32. The upper end of the shank 28 isprovided with a spring retaining clip which will be described in moredetail hereinafter. The spring retaining clip is referred to in generalby the reference numeral 34.

'It is to be noted that the cup portion 32 is seated on the rounded headpart 24 of the pin portion 22 to form a swivel connection between themounting member 26 and the foot member 14. Thus when pressure is appliedto the foot member 14 by engagement of the foot member 14 against asurface, such as the floor surface 36, although the support member 26may be disposed at an angle to the vertical, the universal connectionbetween the pin portion 22 and the cup shaped portion 32 will permit theautomatic levelling of the foot member 14 so that the floor engagingsurface 18 thereof will automatically be disposed substantially coplanarto the surface of the floor 36.

In order to both enclose the universal connection between the cup shapedportion 32 and the pin portion 22, which universal connection isreferred to in general by the reference numeral 38, there is provided acover 40. The cover 40 will be formed of sheet metal and has a lowerportion 42 thereof engaged around the projecting part 20 so as tointerlock the cover 40 with the foot member 14.

The upper part of the cover 40 is of a reduced width and is internallybent to form a seat 44. The seat 44 is disposed concentric to the pinportion 22 and engages the outer surfaces of the cup shaped portion 32.Thus the cover 40 also serves to retain the cup shaped portion 32 on thepin portion 32 and thus prevent separation of the universal connection38. The fit between the seat 44 and the exterior surface of the cupshaped portion 32 seals the universal connection 38.

The spring retaining clip 34, as is best shown in Figure 3, includes acentral portion including a plurality of outwardly directed springfingers'48 which are circumferentially spaced. As is best shown inFigure 2,- the spring fingers 48 normally bow downwardly and thusfacilitate the insertion of the spring retaining clip 34 within thetubular chair leg 12. However, when it is attempted to withdraw themounting member 26, the

spring fingers 48 attempt to straighten out and dig firmly into theinterior surface of the chair leg 12 thus preventing removal of themountingimember 26.

' As isbest shown-in Figure 2, the shank 28 is hollowed out as at 50 tobe tubular. The upper part of the shank 50 is buckled as at 52 toprovide a lower seat for the spring retaining clip 34. The upper end ofthe shank 28 is outwardly flared as at 54 to cooperate with the shoulder52 to secure the spring retaining clip 34 on the shank 28.

The lower part of the shank 28 passes through a central opening 56 in aclosure member 58 for the lower end of the chair leg 12. The closuremember 58 includes an offset portion 60 of a size to be received in thechair leg 12 and a peripheral flange 62 which abuts against the lowerend of the chair leg 12 so as to prevent movement of the closure member58 into the chair leg 12. The closure member 58 abuts against theshoulder 30 and is retained in place in the lower end of the chair leg12.

Referring now to Figure 4 in particular, it will be seen that there isillustrated a modified form of furniture foot unit which is referred toin general by the reference numeral 64. The foot unit 64 includes a footmember 66 which is identical with the foot member 14. The foot unit 64also includes a cover 68 which is identical with the cover 40.Accordingly, a description of these two parts is believed to beunnecessary.

The foot unit 64 also includes a mounting member 70 which is of aslightly different construction from the mounting member 26. Themounting member 70 includes an elongated shank 72 which is in the formof a drive fastener. The shank 72 terminates at the lower end thereof inan enlargement or shoulder portion 74 which has formed integraltherewith a cup shaped portion 76. The cup shaped portion 76 cooperateswith the foot member 66 and the cover 68 to form a universal connection78 which is identical with the universal connecr tion 38.

The foot unit 64 is intended to be used with chair legs or other typesof furniture legs which are of a solid wood construction. Such a chairleg is referred to by the reference numeral 80. The shank 72 is driveninto the chair leg 80 to retain the foot unit 64 in place. The shank 72has the lower portion thereof received through a washer 82 which bearsagainst the lower end of the chair leg 80 and forms a seat for theshoulder 74.

From the foregoing description of the foot units which are the subjectof this invention, it will be seen that while 4 H the foot units are ofan extremely simple construction, the construction thereof is such thata universal con nection is provided between the support member and thefoot member thereof so that irrespective of the angle which the leg ofthe furniture makes to the floor, the foot ember will automatically bedisposed in flush engagement with the floor surface because of theself-levelling feature thereof.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles ofthe invention. Further, since numerous mod ifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exact construction and operation shown anddescribed, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equiva- Flents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention asclaimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

A furniture foot unit comprising a foot member, a mounting member, auniversal connection between said foot member and said mounting member,said universal connection including a pin projecting upwardly from saidfoot member, said pin being circular in cross-section and terminating ina rounded upper end, said mounting member terminating in a downwardlyopening cup-shaped member seated on said upper end, said cup-shapedmember having a semi-spherical inner surface and a semispherical outersurface, and a cover for said universal connection, said cover beingsecured to said foot member and engaging said mounting member to preventseparation of said universal connection, said cover having a seat whichis circular in outline and disposed concentric to said pin, said seatengaging the exterior surface of said cup-shaped member and preventingmovement of said cup-shaped member away from said foot member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS659,532 Jordan Oct. 9, 1900 926,579 Laughlin June 29, 1909 1,254,566Bard Jan. 22, 1918 1,332,605 Child Mar. 2, 1920 1,638,725 Chestnut Aug.9, 1927 1,885,558 Payne Apr. 26, 1952 2,699,567 Kramcsak Jan. 18, 19552,807,042 Cramer Sept. 24,1957 2,819,918 Seaquist Jan. 14, 1958

